I agree, but as I said for a long time into the jet age, even with ejector seats they were only of use above a certain altitude.
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I agree, but as I said for a long time into the jet age, even with ejector seats they were only of use above a certain altitude.I think the same logic would have applied to B-52 and B-47 pilots. On the other hand, there were (and are) significant non-combat losses, frequently around take-off and landing, and not having flight crew die on a ferry or training flight would be beneficial.
..Not an emergency situation but we were jumping the -24 in Illinois at the World Free Fall Convention............u tube World Freefall Convention - AOL Video Search ResultsI wonder if there are special rules if the command to bail-out is given by the pilot?
I found a picture on the Internet that shows the positions where the crew could or should bail out of a Liberator (B-24) bomber. The possible places are:
front wheel door, bomb bay (front & back) and the camera hatch at the end of the airplane.
I think the crew did some training on how someone has to do this because the techniques at the bomb bay and maybe the camera hatch would not be the same.
How dangerous would this procedure be? And how big are the chances to get hurt when leaving the plane?
I am asking this because I am following a story where the bomb bay door was jammed and only the camera hole could be used. The airplane itself wouldn't fly straight because of the damage she got. Therefore I assume that the "bailing out" procedure wasn't an easy one.
I read that on the B-24 the nosewheel doors were spring loaded and free swinging. The nosewheel simply pushed the doors open when going down and up. The crew in the nose compartment had to be careful where they stepped; the nosegear doors were effectively a trap door. One B-24 pilot described a formation flight in which one airplane's nose gunner had relaxed by laying atop the doors, his parachute for a pillow. He fell through the doors, followed by the magazine he had planned to read - and his parachute.
It's a tight squeeze as the radio/navigation deck is directly above, so while a person could get in there, I don't think it could be done if they're wearing a parachute.Could that forward escape be used if the nose wheel was down ?
Remember where you read this?
Pretty sure it was in Wings/Airpower around Jan 1977. I think I read it while we were driving down to a meeting in GD in FW, the trip where an ice storm hit and we ended up driving back to OK over icy roads at 20 MPH in car with no working heater.
I recall that in the same article the author said that they got B-24's with big bubbles in the side windows. I guess that was done to aid the ASW aircraft visual search but it really screwed thinsg up when trying to fly formation so they replaced them with flat Plexiglas panels.
It's a tight squeeze as the radio/navigation deck is directly above, so while a person could get in there, I don't think it could be done if they're wearing a parachute.[/QUOTE
The nose wheel door is listed as the preferred emergency exit for the crew in the forward compartment.
When the nose wheel is up, the wheel is in the back of the nose gear compartment, and the nose gear struts are out of the way, plenty of room to bail out below the wheel.
But when it's down, the wheel and it's struts appear to make it almost impossible to go that route.
Otherwise that forward crew only has a crawl space to get to the bomb bay exit.
I agree, but as I said for a long time into the jet age, even with ejector seats they were only of use above a certain altitude.
Many years ago I had a number of flights in a Hunter. On one of them we were going to be at 50ft and I noted that the seats were only rated to 150ft. It was pointed out (with a big sigh) that if something went wrong and we lost height we would be in the water before we could react, if we went up, at the speed we were going we would easily get to 150ft. So what was I worrying about?
I suppose it's one way of looking at it.